freeagent Posted August 6, 2006 Share Posted August 6, 2006 right, this is getting on my nerves now. my Disco ('95 300Tdi) has had a slight shake from the steering ever since i've had it. it comes on at around 65-70 mph as you pass about 70-75mph it dissapears.... its not bad but certainly noticable, and is slightly worse if you hit a bump in the road. so far i have... tried different tyre pressures (better when they are inflated a 'bit hard') had the wheels ballanced. had the tracking done and replaced both track rod ends. replaced the steering damper (new genuine part) replaced both front shocks (new gen parts) replaced panhard rod bushes and bolts (new gen parts) rebuilt the steering swivels and set the preload with a newton meter to the right setting rebuilt both front wheel bearings checked front prop UJ's.... checked drag link ball joints (no movement) am running on good, only slightly worn (15-20% max) Kumho A/T tyres.... so what else should i look at? its not realy bad, but it certainly annoys me, as it drives realy well up to 65mph, and over 75mph... i'm off to Morocco on friday, and the shakes will be going with me, but i'm pretty hopefull that nothing is about to fall appart.... should i get the tracking done again as it was done before i rebuilt the steering swivels? any ideas will be much apreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petergg Posted August 6, 2006 Share Posted August 6, 2006 Matt, did you have wheels ballanced on or off car? if off try getting them done on the car. Also check play in steering box, do not over tighten though as will have a stiff spot. Peter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeagent Posted August 6, 2006 Author Share Posted August 6, 2006 wheels were ballanced off the car... never seen them done on the car before... how do you go about that? will check steering box and steering column UJ's as not looked at them yet... bloody car, i need it to behave for 3 weeks, thats all.... 3 weeks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted August 6, 2006 Share Posted August 6, 2006 check the props again 1 may have lost a balance weight. these are just spotwelded on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petergg Posted August 6, 2006 Share Posted August 6, 2006 Matt, if you have over sized tyres fitted, I would fit a HD steering damper from Old Man Emu will make a big difference on tracks with corrugations on. On car wheel ballance is done by a machine spinning wheels fast on car, we use to have one at my garage but I no longer have it. Peter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hybrid_From_Hell Posted August 6, 2006 Share Posted August 6, 2006 Is the "Phase" of the props correct at the front ? nige Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeagent Posted August 6, 2006 Author Share Posted August 6, 2006 no oversized tyres fitted, just 205/R16 rollerskate wheels... not sure about prop phase, but pretty sure this is a steering prob as can feel it thorugh the steering wheel, and it responds to bumps in the road. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onions Posted August 6, 2006 Share Posted August 6, 2006 If it's any help to someone who knows more than me about such things: My 98 Disco was running a pretty ropey set of 235/70/16s and had a nasty wobbly shake like yours at about the speed you describe. I couldn't get it to go away no matter what happened. After living with it for months on end it came to the time for a new set of tyres - as soon as I had 4 new tyres put on it went away immediately. I've had the tyres on for just over a year now and the shake is starting to come back with about 14000 miles of wear on them. My guess is the new rubber was masking another problem but I don't claim to know what. Hopefully this might help someone diagnose freeagent's problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LR90 Posted August 6, 2006 Share Posted August 6, 2006 Certainly worth just swapping the wheels arround, Maybe front to rear, to see if that changes anything. I spent ages trying to pin down a problem with my Dosco's steering and in the end it was all down to one dodgy tyre. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D9OSV Posted August 6, 2006 Share Posted August 6, 2006 We see this an awful lot...... It is not a case of which will cure it.. More looking at ALL parts that can cause it, as a small amount of wear in all components will cause this problem. One thing you have not done is your panard rod bushes, i would do these anyway as they are cheap to do. However, having gone to al this troulbe i expect that (As Western said) adjust the steering box and the problem will dissapear. Every car is different and every car shows this problem in different way..... Howevr rule if thumb is to usaully check steering damper, check swivel preloads, check panard rod bushes, check tyres for uneven wear, steering joint (inc column), adjust steering box. IF....Problem still exsists, then check...... Front radius arm bushes, shock absorbers, swivel housing internals (for damaged bearings) and if that all fails........ Check chassis alignment and for bent front axle (Caused by previous accident?) Have fun Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted August 6, 2006 Share Posted August 6, 2006 (edited) However, having gone to al this troulbe i expect that (As Western said) adjust the steering box and the problem will dissapear. wasn't me it was Peter Edited August 6, 2006 by western Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffbeaumont Posted August 6, 2006 Share Posted August 6, 2006 Check chassis alignment and for bent front axle (Caused by previous accident?) Wonder if that's what the vibration on my disco is? My parents said it's had it ever since one of mum's friends piled it into the side of a lorry on the M74 years ago. Definitely twisted the bodywork (but the AA measured it all up and pronounced it still within factory tolerances... ). Is there any easy way to check these? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeagent Posted August 6, 2006 Author Share Posted August 6, 2006 right, thanks all... D90SV... i did do the panhard rod bushes, replaced them with genuine parts as i know they can cause probs, when i took them out the bolts did show a bit of wear inside the bush tubes. so how do i adjust the streering box then? the truck has done 107K, and as far as i know its still the original steering box... so its probably got a bit of wear in it... is it a case of undoing the lock nut on top of the box, tweeking the hex-key screw in the middle of it and doing up the lock nut...? could someone talk me through it please? the tyres have only done about 6K, so i don't think its them, but i could (or rather should) swap them from front to rear and see what happens... cheers guys.. and keep it coming... want this sorted as have my evil eye on a set of Insa Turbo simex style remoulds for muddy days out... and they'll only amplify it.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted August 6, 2006 Share Posted August 6, 2006 IIRC on top of the steering box is a largish nut with a allen key socket head screw in it's centre, unlock the nut & adjust [wind in] the screw to adjust the free play/backlash of the box, don't over do it or you'll damage the box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mo Murphy Posted August 6, 2006 Share Posted August 6, 2006 Just to add to Ralphs instructions, it's useful to get the wheels off the ground and turn the steering from lock to lock to make sure you don't have any tight spots in the steering after adjustment. If you do then back off the adjustment a bit until the tight spot is gone. Later boxes have a tx30 head instead of an allen head. HTH Mo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted August 6, 2006 Share Posted August 6, 2006 I replaced a lot of my steering compnentry this week; track rod, drag link (sumo bars), TRE's/balljoint and steering damper. I was however quite surpirsed to find that my steering drop arm was loose on the output shaft from the steering box. The drop are was quite worn, and would move quite happily. Could I suggest, since no-one else has, that you also check the state of the splines in your drop arm? Mine is like a different car to drive now! Cheers Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirtydiesel Posted August 6, 2006 Share Posted August 6, 2006 rebuilt the steering swivels and set the preload with a newton meter to the right setting Did you check the preload on the swivels without the seals in? Could you borrow another pair of tyres to check whether it is not just the khumos? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeagent Posted August 6, 2006 Author Share Posted August 6, 2006 nope, dropped the seals out as per the instructions, and set the pre-load up properly with a newton meter after re-greasing the top and bottom bearings... its about 3 newtons tighter than the haynes book recommended, but that only works out about 295g... so nowt to worry about. i'm going to nip into a tyre place tomorrow and get my rear wheels ballanced, then get them rotated onto the front... then have a crack at doing the sterring box adjustment.... ....and we'll see how that pans out........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dollythelw Posted August 6, 2006 Share Posted August 6, 2006 Really easy one to miss but worth a check - ovalled hole in the panhard rod mounting bracket - Ive had a similar prob in the past, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeagent Posted August 6, 2006 Author Share Posted August 6, 2006 oh... never would have thought of that.... cheers Jez.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dollythelw Posted August 6, 2006 Share Posted August 6, 2006 check the axle end - its an easy fix, just weld a 3mm washer to the axle to "re-round" the hole, bodgy but it works well, hope it helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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